IATA boss Willie Walsh insists airport delays across Europe will get fixed

Former IAG chief calls for calm in the wake of chaos in Dublin as well as in the Netherlands, Canada, and Britain

IATA chief Willie Walsh 

Willie Walsh, who heads up IATA, the business group that looks after the interests of international airlines, has called for calm in the wake of recent travel chaos at some airports as people resume flying after the pandemic, blaming the gridlock on temporary delays in getting clearances for new staff.

A snapback in air travel has triggered long queues at Dublin, British airports, as well as Amsterdam, and Toronto, as airport managers struggle to fill jobs fast enough.

The time needed to get security badges for newly-hired staff has risen from three to four weeks in Britain, for example, to as long as three months, said Mr Walsh, director general of the International Air Transport Association, or IATA.

“The problem is, you can’t start the training until you’ve got the security clearance,” Mr Walsh told reporters on the sidelines of a conference on ground operations. 

You offer them a job, they accept it, and then you have to go through this period of three months to get security clearance — they’re not going to hang around. They’ll go and find a job somewhere else.

The former head of IAG, which owns Aer Lingus, British Airways, and Iberia, said he did not expect the trend to spread to other regions, but he sounded the alarm on growing pilot shortages in the US. “I think it needs to be put in perspective; there are issues in some airports, it’s not across the world,” Mr Walsh said.

“I think it reflects the very significant increase in activity we’ve seen. It also reflects the fact that we’re coming off a very low base," he said. "So as airlines and airports try to rebuild, it is challenging for some of them... It will get addressed.”

Mr Walsh played down concerns that pent-up demand could prove short-lived as worries about inflation and lower disposable incomes take a toll on future travel spending.

Some executives have warned of uncertain demand over the winter.

• Reuters